And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.
The Old Testament ends with a warning and a hope: God will send a prophet, and hearts will turn — or the land falls under a curse. So who is this Elijah, and did John the Baptist finish that work or only begin it?
The Closing Word of the Old Testament
The Old Testament leaves the curse still hanging. The New Testament follows the story to its end. The quotes below use the older wording, "strike the earth with a curse."
The Old Testament closed with the hope of the Lord's coming to reign. It closed too with the need of preparing hearts to receive Him, so that He would not come and strike the earth with a curse (Malachi 4:6). The New Testament carries us on to millennial blessing, when there shall be no more curse (Rev. 22:3).
Moses and Elijah Together
Verse 6 belongs with the two names just before it. One name points back to the law of Moses. The other points forward to a prophet God will send.
Next follow two points of interest. One is the remembrance of the law of Moses. They look back; and this is the test to judge their whole course from first to last. Again they will look forward: "Behold I send you Elijah the prophet." So, though this concerns Israel, it shows us the two right ways of judging the present. One is in the light of the past. The other is in the light of the future. It always needs faith, therefore, to judge according to God.
What the Turning of Hearts Means
The change God promises starts inside families in Israel. Its reach does not stop there.
We know that the moral restoring of all things will be worked in the hearts of fathers and sons in Israel. We know too that God will make them as life from the dead to the world. In this way He will spread His saving health among all nations, who shall be blessed, not cursed, in the Seed of promise.
Another writer says a verse in Luke makes the meaning plain.
What is stated in the last verse may seem rather obscure, but if we read Luke 1:17, its bearing is plain. The "disobedient" will be turned to "the wisdom of the just," and so a people will be prepared for the Lord. In this way a godly remnant will be found; otherwise the whole earth would be struck with a curse.
John the Baptist and the Offer That Was Refused
That leaves the question of John the Baptist. Everything turned on how Israel answered him.
If the Jews had received John the Baptist, they would also have received the Messiah. The kingdom would at once have been set up in power. In that case Malachi 4:5-6 would have been true of John. But in fact it was not. Crowds gathered around him when he first rang out the cry, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Yet there was little work of conscience, and scarcely any turning of "the heart of the fathers to the children."
The Curse Since Then, and the Blessing Ahead
The turning was only partial, so the curse fell on the land — but not for ever.
Even in our Lord's own case, the unbelief of the people stopped everything bright and clearly blessed for Israel... So for the time the moral restoration of the Jews was partial. The mass of the people did not repent, and family bonds were completely loosened and broken. The land has been struck with a curse from that day to this. But it will not always be so. For grace will work in a remnant once more in the last days. Then Elijah's mission will be fully accomplished (Matt. 17:11).
Elijah's own day shows what Israel will be like when that mission comes.
Elijah's own mission came at a time when the nation had turned away from God. Israel had openly disowned Jehovah and chosen Baal in His place. And we gather from many scriptures that the same turning away will mark Israel as a whole in the last days. In the time of King Ahab there was a hidden remnant, and so it will be again. God will never leave Himself without a witness on the earth... A people whom God has called and prepared in grace will once again be the salt of the earth. For their sake the earth — or more likely the land — will be spared what is here called a curse: pure, unmixed judgment.
A Warning Close to Home
One writer applies the verse to strife among God's people.
When children fight and quarrel, that is the time they may expect their father to come and separate them with his rod... Strife and contention put a people next door to a curse. God brings a heavy judgment on a people when He Himself leaves them.
Summary
- Warning. The Old Testament ends with a curse hanging over the land. Revelation is where God finally removes it.
- Messenger. Moses and Elijah stand side by side at the close. The law tests the past. The promised prophet marks the future. Faith judges today in both lights.
- Turning. God promises a change of heart in fathers and children. The disobedient turn to the wisdom of the just, and a people is made ready for the Lord.
- Remnant. John came in Elijah's spirit and power. Had Israel received him, he would have been their Elijah. They refused, so for now a hidden remnant answers, not a nation.
- Blessing. When Elijah's mission is finished, restored hearts in Israel become life from the dead to the world. The nations are then blessed, not cursed, in the promised Seed.